Front Page
SC to hear pleas challenging Section 377 today: A Constitution Bench will begin to re-visit the December 2013 verdict of the Supreme Court recriminalising gay sex and dismissing the LGBT community as a negligible part of the population. The SC also admonished the Centre Monday, refusing the government’s plea for a four-week extension, reports Hindustan Times.
SC refuses to review death sentence for December 2012 rapist-killers: Citing insufficient grounds, the Supreme Court refused to take up the petitions filed by three of the four convicts on death row. Jyoti Singh’s mother wrote exclusively for ThePrint, saying, “But the fight for justice for Nirbhaya is still not over. A lot now depends on how soon the death penalty verdict is sent by the government to the nation’s President, and when he will sign on the papers.”
Government declares six ‘Institutes of Eminence’ but one only exists on paper: Against an earlier plan of naming 20 ‘Institutions of Eminence’, the government has identified six — 3 private and 3 public. However, one of them — the Jio Institute, to be run by the Reliance Foundation in Mumbai — has not even started functioning, reports Kritika Sharma for ThePrint.
Kashmir situation not conducive to polls, says Omar Abdullah: Addressing workers of his party, the National Conference, the former J&K chief minister added that “dissolution of the assembly is the only cure to all the rumours of horse-trading”, reports The Indian Express. However, he maintained that his party had no qualms about taking part in the polls, whenever they happened.
The South Korean President is in town: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in took a ride on Delhi Metro’s Blue line Monday to travel to Noida for the inauguration of Samsung Electronics’ mobile phone manufacturing facility, said to be the world’s largest. Moon is expected to meet key leaders and sign a number of agreements during the trip, reports Hindustan Times.
SC is ready to go live, but Centre moots a TV channel: Soon, watching live proceedings of courts while sitting in your living room would be possible, reports The Tribune. However, reservations remain about live-streaming cases involving national security concerns, matrimonial disputes and rape cases.
Drama on the Karnataka floor: Over a decade after the JD(S)-BJP coalition collapsed, chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa sparred on the floor of the house, with the latter calling the former a “habitual betrayer” and saying the tendency “runs in his blood”, reports The Hindu. Kumaraswamy is the son of former PM H.D. Deve Gowda.
Jayant Sinha, Giriraj Singh must resign, says Congress: The Congress Monday questioned the silence of Narendra Modi on incidents of lynching in the country, and demanded the resignation of union ministers Jayant Sinha and Giriraj Singh for garlanding eight lynching convicts and meeting riots accused in jail, respectively, reports Deccan Chronicle
For the Centre, being an MP is not a ‘full-time’ job: Arguing that legislators cannot be stopped from doubling up as advocates, attorney general K.K. Venugopal said in a submission to a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court that MPs cannot be viewed as “employees or servants” of the government as they are elected by the people and not appointed by the government, reports The Hindu
Business Class
Bharti Airtel is set to lose its number one spot in the telecom sector with Vodafone India and Idea Cellular getting a conditional nod for merger, reports The Economic Times. Once sealed, this will be the largest merger and acquisition deal in the sector in India.
In a setback to Cyrus Mistry, the lawsuit filed by his family firms against Tata Sons alleging mismanagement has been dismissed by the National Company Law Tribunal, reports The Economic Times.
News it’s kinda cool to know
Japan is embarking on a two-year project to make trains a minute faster: According to the representatives of JR East, the East Japan Railway Company in charge of the project, “Even reducing the time by a minute is a big step towards increasing passenger numbers,” reports Engadget.
Facebook flags US ‘Declaration of Independence’ as hate speech: A passage featuring racist language may be responsible for the automated system mistaking a historical document for hate speech, reports SkyNews.
Point of View
FIFA World Cup 2018 has thrown up many surprises. None of the football powerhouses — Brazil, Germany or Argentina — has been able to secure a place in the last four. The Hindu, in its editorial, writes, “Upsets have set up the semifinals — but all teams played superb football to get here.”
When you stand against the military in Pakistan, you are just inviting the trouble for yourself. Columnist and author Ayesha Siddiqa, in her column in The Indian Express, writes, “Nawaz Sharif’s conviction is not about corruption. It has to do with his questioning of the military.”
WhatsApp is facing the flak for facilitating the spread of rumours and fake news. Lawyer Apar Gupta, in his column in The Hindu, writes, “Our problematic framing is leading to public officials and police departments escaping accountability as they continue to place the onus of governance on a private corporation for maintaining an ordered and democratic society.”
Prime Time
To hang or not to hang
As the Supreme Court upheld the verdict of death for the December 2012 rape and murder convicts, Navika Kumar of Times Now debated on the question: “Death penalty for every rape?”
While stating that capital punishment would deter rapes in the country, Asha Devi, Nirbhaya’s mother, said,”There is nothing worse than a rape, all rapists need to be punished immediately.”
Dr John Dayal, human rights activist, disagreed with the apex court’s order and said the death penalty is not a solution to anything. He added, “I am against death penalty, not against punishment. I wouldn’t change my stand even if this would have happened to my daughter.”
Floods go away, come again another day
Raising questions about the functioning of civic authorities and Mumbai’s dilapidated drainage system, Preeti Choudhry of India Today TV discussed why the maximum city gets flooded every year.
Bombay High Court advocate Abha Singh accused the BMC and other municipal authorities of being corrupt and said, “Every year a huge amount of budget is given to them but the money goes into the pockets of contractors.”
Meanwhile, urban development expert Chandrashekhar Prabhu said, “Mumbai lakes have turned into a concrete jungle causing this trouble.” He added that the city’s geography also contributes to the floods every year.